Teachers look for ways of making learning a pleasant experience. They adopt different strategies to cater to the needs of their students and one of these many strategies is cooperative learning.
Johnson and Johnson (2016) give us a very comprehensive description of the nature of a cooperative task. Accordingly, constructive controversy theory posits that conflict among ideas, theories, or conclusions leads to uncertainty about the correctness of one’s views, which leads to epistemic curiosity and the active search for additional information and perspectives, which, in turn, leads to reconceptualized and refined conclusions. This process results in constructive outcomes when it occurs in a cooperative context, when students are skilled in
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A very similar finding was shared by Zhang (2010) stating that cooperative language learning provides students with the necessary academic and social skills. Participation is enhanced by cooperative learning techniques (Drakeford, 2012). However, the teaching process in CL showed there were several shortcomings and difficulties, such as the dependence of lower achievers on higher achievers (Abdulahi, Hashim, & Kawo, 2017), the unified course schedule, and the difficulties of designing meaningful activities, managing noisy and chaotic classroom, grouping the students, facing attendance rate or distracted students and evaluating a vast of students’ test grades (Wang, …show more content…
On the same year that Chen’s study was conducted, Fu (2013) also studied 58 college students majoring in computer science to find out in what ways do students behave differently in a co-operative learning classroom. His study revealed that in a co-operative learning class, the students become more confident in their English task than in a traditional class, which is due to the relaxed and co-operative environment and much autonomy and little pressure. Such finding on the role of CL in establishing a relaxed learning atmosphere was complimented when studies revealed that certain instructional techniques are more helpful than others in alleviating anxiety, including group work (McKnight and Redmond, 2003), and that CL proves to be a feasible and effective approach to alleviate learners’ writing anxiety significantly and increase their writing competence greatly (Jiang,
%addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Activity 5.4} section*{Activity 5.4} egin{enumerate} item I divide the class into pairs. item I gave the learners the following exercises in Grade 10 (Set 7).\ extbf{Simplify the following expressions:}\ egin{enumerate}[(a)] egin{minipage}{0.60 extwidth} item $frac{4m}{n^{-3}} imes frac{3}{10m^2 n^2}$ \ \ item $frac{2^x + 2^{x+1}}{2^x}$ \ \ item $frac{3^a - 3^{a-1}}{3^{a+2} - 3^{a+1}}$ \ \ item $frac{5^x.2^x}{10^x}$ \ \ item $frac{7^{x+1} - 7^{x}}{6.7^{x}}$ \ \ item $frac{6^x.3^{-1}}{36^{-x+1}}$ end{minipage}% egin{minipage}{0.60 extwidth} %egin{enumerate}[{11.} ] item $frac{5^{x+2} - 5^{x+1}}{5^{x+1}}$ \ \ item $frac{3^x - 3^{x-2}}{8.3^x}$ \ \ item $frac{2.2^{n+1} - 2^{n}}{3.2^{n-1}}$ \ \ item
In math gives students a chance to share different methods and angles for solving mathmatical equations. In english, students can analyse characters from different points of view. In every class, students will learn to work together efficiently to gather and organize ideas. Sadly, some students believe "it is a waste of time listening to peers compared to listening to teachers.
Structure like this in classrooms only validates that students are able to argue but, diminishes the opportunities of creating values to the scholarly work and voicing out from the side that share the same opinion as the author. This leads to academic rewards for these arguing students as suggested by Deborah Tannen, leaving the rest to believe that they are not good enough for the academia. Based on personal experience, I would like to add that such agonism demotivates students to explore knowledge outside of their field and creates an impression that they are never meant to explore topics that they are least expert at. This structure has to be reshaped to bring back the original goals of criticizing work so that there is a value for everyone in the
One strategy that reinforces learning through collaboration is team teaching. In the classroom both teachers are positioned at the front of the classroom with different responsibilities. For example, one teacher may write notes, while the other delivers large group instruction. Through team teaching, both educators can bounce ideas off one another or show students two different methods of solving a problem. This strategy is most effective in a coteaching partnership emphasizing give and take.
“The behavior of difficult-to-manage students can be improved through providing interesting lessons on topics of personal relevance that permit active involvement and lead to competencies students consider important” (Charles & Senter, 2005, p. 131). This statement summarizes perfectly the idea that when students are engaged and learning about topics that are meaningful to them, their world opens up and they begin to see a purpose in what they are doing. According to Trevor Muir, a teacher and author of The Epic Classroom, conflict can motivate students and develop a sense of curiosity (T. Muir, personal communication, February 20, 2018). When students are presented with a real world conflict, they become motivated to find a solution. Project-based
The purpose of group learning and development is to ensure that all learning styles are catered for and the ultimate goal of sharing knowledge is achieved. When using a group to deliver something new each individual can call on a fellow participant to confirm understanding. 1.2 Explain why delivery of learning and development must reflect group dynamics When delivering to a group it is important to consider, what is the normal behaviour within the group? Who plays what role?
In a learning environment, teachers want to help students engage with what they are doing to promote deeper understanding" (Kohn, 1997c). The student-directed learning theory implies that the teacher should share the
My Classroom Environment Ideally, my classroom would be a strong community of interactive learners. I would like to use cooperative learning to engage students at various academic levels. This would also give me the opportunity to employ direct teaching for those students that need it while others work in groups. Groups also allows me to use peer tutoring and help build an inclusive classroom by integrating groups (Hallahan et al., 2012).
There are four general theoretical perspectives (Slavin, 1995) that have guided research on co-operative learning, namely, (a) motivational, (b) social cohesion, (c) cognitive-developmental and (d) cognitive-elaboration. 1. Motivational Perspective : Motivational perspectives on co-operative learning focus primarily on the reward or goal structures under which students operate (Slavin, 1977, 1983a, 1995). The motivational perspective presumes that task motivation is the single most powerful part of the learning process, proclaiming that the other processes such as planning and helping are determined by individuals’ motivated self-interest. Motivational researchers focus especially on the reward or goal structure under which students operate,
According to Ripley, S. (1998), traditionally, special education teachers worked with students in a self-contained environment as well as the general education teachers worked in a room alone. However, overtime, learning disabled students more and more are being included in regular education classes. Therefore, the need for collaboration between the regular education teacher and the special education teacher continues to grow. Today, many schools are setting up cooperative teaching programs that team a special education teacher with a team of regular education teachers in order to reach all students and have them all benefit from the same lesson plans. The special added exception is that the learning-disabled students have the extra benefit of having someone who specializes in
Furthermore, while safe spaces can be hubs of conversation, they are however, conversations between like-minded students (Source C). The aforementioned editor, Jonathan Sperling, reiterates the exigency in which college students must experience the plethora of distinct views, opinions, and beliefs of other pupils, in order to gain a well-rounded perspective on different subject matters. Additionally, students are able to learn and grow from these various viewpoints, accumulating an intellectual insight which will better equip them to handle “real world” challenges (Source
Conflict, differences, and disagreement are what drive the learning process. In the process of learning one is called upon to move back and forth between opposing modes of reflection and action and feeling and
This interaction encourages students to think. It is very beneficial if the students interact between them in a large number since everyone has their own experienced, opinion, ways of thinking and so forth. In computing,
Teaching methods differ in terms of approach which as observed relate more to procedures which influence inner coherence, produce specific educational effects. The traditional approach embodies two, namely: (a) the didactic method, also called the directive or autocratic style, which is based on logo-centrism and an instructor-centred approach. Its focus is the teacher, who explains the logical and practical aspects of the issue or topic; secondly, (b) the dialectic method. In this approach, students are involved in the learning process and are expected to ask questions; thirdly, (c) The heuristic or research method. This method makes students the protagonists of their learning process, since they must find, guided by the instructor, and through research and experimentation, the solutions to the problems.
It is one of the most effective forms of learning. Working in isolation is very restrictive and gives a slow progress. Critical thinking is also encouraged when learners work in groups. Through collaborative activities such as writing, debates, group projects and more they learn to work together and to respect each other contribution. The traditional relationship between student and teacher is changed with collaborative learning.